Nanny refuses to get flu shot?

[Anonymous]

Gee OP you can go with advice from a few moronic nannies on an anonymous board or your pediatrician's advice.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the OP is for real.

[Anonymous]

OP-what specific reasons is she stating for not wanting to get the shot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will also be refusing a flu shot. Ive had the flu shoot once and my body didnt react well to it. In addition to that why should I get a flu shot to appease my boss when preventative regular health care is what really keeps people healthy. You want your child safe from communicable diseases provide me health insurance instead of constantly mentioning how its on your to do list with sad puppy eyes.

WTF do you think preventative health care is? Getting a shot to PREVENT the flu or having health insurance so you can go to the doctor when you get the flu?

[Anonymous]

There are people who don't like shots, don't care if they get the flu, or believe a host of silly things about the flu shot. More power to them and Darwin in general is a good thing but this is your infant. It is very irresponsible for a nanny who refuses vaccination to accept a job with an infant who is too young to be vaccinated. She should be working for someone with older babies or toddlers.

You don't need to try to convince her of the importance just be direct and tell her you will terminate her if she does not get the shot and bring you back the receipt so you can reimburse her. You are well within your right to terminate her if she refuses. Since this is a clear action for clause and she has been with you for only a few months you do not owe her severance.

If she has strong objections to vaccination then again she should not be working with infants. If she just doesn't want it and is ignoring your request then this is a red flag that she may not be a good nanny for you in other respects.

You do not have to include the flu shot in your contract. It is a good idea when hiring the new nanny to cover this in the interview. A nanny who wants the job will get the shot.

[Anonymous]

Preventative measures include hand washing AND vaccination. It is not an either/or thing. Get the shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are people who don't like shots, don't care if they get the flu, or believe a host of silly things about the flu shot. More power to them and Darwin in general is a good thing but this is your infant. It is very irresponsible for a nanny who refuses vaccination to accept a job with an infant who is too young to be vaccinated. She should be working for someone with older babies or toddlers.

You don't need to try to convince her of the importance just be direct and tell her you will terminate her if she does not get the shot and bring you back the receipt so you can reimburse her. You are well within your right to terminate her if she refuses. Since this is a clear action for clause and she has been with you for only a few months you do not owe her severance.

If she has strong objections to vaccination then again she should not be working with infants. If she just doesn't want it and is ignoring your request then this is a red flag that she may not be a good nanny for you in other respects.

You do not have to include the flu shot in your contract. It is a good idea when hiring the new nanny to cover this in the interview. A nanny who wants the job will get the shot.

I absolutely agree with this. OP, I do think it was unfair not to bring this up with the nanny when you hired her, and I would try to get a better sense of her reasons for avoiding the vaccine (if you haven't done this already)--but I'm with this poster that it's irresponsible of those working with infants not to get the flu shot, especially if their employer requests it. Yes, the shot does not 100% guarantee that you won't get seasonal flu, since there could be other strains floating around, but it drastically reduces the risk.

To the poster who claimed that the flu shot made her vulnerable to other infections, this is utterly ridiculous and not backed up in any way by sound science. What evidence do you have that the flu shot caused this? This is correlation without causation; you had a rough winter and it happened to be the same winter you got the shot. Having a negative reaction to a vaccine (say, if you're allergic to one of its ingredients) is one thing, but saying that a vaccine for a specific virus made you vulnerable to other viral/bacterial infections is crazy. Handwashing is great and very important, but it wasn't enough to prevent measles, polio, and other communicable diseases, and it's not enough to prevent the flu either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are people who don't like shots, don't care if they get the flu, or believe a host of silly things about the flu shot. More power to them and Darwin in general is a good thing but this is your infant. It is very irresponsible for a nanny who refuses vaccination to accept a job with an infant who is too young to be vaccinated. She should be working for someone with older babies or toddlers.

You don't need to try to convince her of the importance just be direct and tell her you will terminate her if she does not get the shot and bring you back the receipt so you can reimburse her. You are well within your right to terminate her if she refuses. Since this is a clear action for clause and she has been with you for only a few months you do not owe her severance.

If she has strong objections to vaccination then again she should not be working with infants. If she just doesn't want it and is ignoring your request then this is a red flag that she may not be a good nanny for you in other respects.

You do not have to include the flu shot in your contract. It is a good idea when hiring the new nanny to cover this in the interview. A nanny who wants the job will get the shot.

Agree with this completely. We are talking about infants, people. It is a red flag if your nanny is giving you such a hard time about it.

[Anonymous]

OP here- thanks to all for your suggestions. It was helpful to see all the different perspectives. I am going to agree with the poster who mentioned that I should listen to my pediatrician who knows the best how to prevent sickness in children. She told me that it would be irresponsible for me, my husband and our nanny to not get a shot unless there was a serious medical condition that prevented it (there is not).

Unfortunately, it was not in our contract (not even something I thought of to put in the contract since this is my first baby). That said, what is in my contract is that I can terminate her at any time with 2 weeks notice (employment at will).

So I will talk to her about the importance again and why, and explain that I understand her position and she certainly has the right to refuse but that I will need to provide her with her notice if she really is against it because I'm just not willing to rely on her washing her hands and feeling 'sickness' coming on to keep the flu away from my child this season. Too many kids are dying from the flu (all on the news which is scary) and a nanny is supposed to make my life 'easier' not more stressful and this would do the opposite.

Sounds like there are other mother's out there who would be sympathetic to her wishes so perhaps they would be a better fit for her than I am.

Thanks to everybody! Really appreciate it!

[Anonymous]

Let us know what happened.

[Anonymous]

Is your child too young to get the vaccine? If so, this is really the only year it will be a concern. You can vaccinate the child as prevention.

[Anonymous]

watch this and come back in favor of poisoning your bloodstream with the flu vaccine! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5GS7nZi924

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Nanny here. Personally I am sicker the years I get the flu shot than the years I don't. I may not get the flu when I have the shot but I seem to catch EVERYTHING else. Maybe your nanny has good reason not to get the flu shot. If she's like me she would put your baby at a greater risk if she gets the shot than if she skips it. "

Nanny here Agree same happen to me. BUT it would not be worth it to me not to get it. Your infaint should be number to your nanny in this case. If Dr said everyone shoud have flu shot. she should be on it. To me it seems nanny dose not really care, or is it she dose not understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Nanny here. Personally I am sicker the years I get the flu shot than the years I don't. I may not get the flu when I have the shot but I seem to catch EVERYTHING else. Maybe your nanny has good reason not to get the flu shot. If she's like me she would put your baby at a greater risk if she gets the shot than if she skips it. "

Nanny here Agree same happen to me. BUT it would not be worth it to me not to get it. Your infaint should be number to your nanny in this case. If Dr said everyone shoud have flu shot. she should be on it. To me it seems nanny dose not really care, or is it she dose not understand?

There's another perfectly acceptable option here:

She understands fully, has researched it thoroughly, loves and cares about the baby, but does not want to take the shot as a result of her own research and decision making.

It comes down to a difference of opinion, and the pro-flu-shot crowd can find that stupid if they'd like. I find their decision to take the shot and get peace of mind out of it pretty stupid myself. It's called having a difference of opinion- doesn't make one better than the other, only makes one better than the other for each individual person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will also be refusing a flu shot. Ive had the flu shoot once and my body didnt react well to it. In addition to that why should I get a flu shot to appease my boss when preventative regular health care is what really keeps people healthy. You want your child safe from communicable diseases provide me health insurance instead of constantly mentioning how its on your to do list with sad puppy eyes.

WTF do you think preventative health care is? Getting a shot to PREVENT the flu or having health insurance so you can go to the doctor when you get the flu?

Reading comprehension is a wonderful thing. REGULAR Preventive care. Not "Hey nanny go here is 50 bucks go to CVS and get a flu shot. No fucking thanks.